hangberg
by Malika Ndlovu on September 26, 2010
25th September 2010
this is the hanging
silence
this is the silence of his
hanging
this is the silence
of our tongues
hanging
this is the silence
of suspended conscience
selective memory
this is the silence
of buried heritage
torture records
epic tales of injustice
histories haunting our horizons
this is the silencing
of the true story
the actual tragedy
the warnings in the wind
this is the silence
of the decades and days
after forced removal
this is the silent ominous cloud
hanging over us all
over hangberg *
*Apartheid-style forced removals took place when residents of Hout Bay’s Hangberg community clashed with police this week in protests over the city’s demolition of shacks built on the firebreak on the slopes of the Sentinel. Protesters claimed they were compelled to meet their own housing needs because the authorities had failed to deliver on promises to accommodate them. 21st September 2010
